Hello again. Our last chapter
concluded on Tuesday, October 8th when we arrived at an RV
park near Socorro, New Mexico. On Wednesday we were up and out of
bed about 6:00 a.m. so we could get on the road early. We are going
into the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta today as part of a rally put on
by the Monaco International Chapter of FMCA. Monaco International
has done this rally every year for about 20 years. They are always
in one of the VIP parking areas directly adjacent to the fifteen acre
park where the balloons are launched, so the access and views are
outstanding. We have been to the Fiesta with Monaco three times
before, with the most recent being in 2015. Our plan was to leave
about 8:30, trying to time our arrival at the Fiesta grounds so we
got there at 10:30, the earliest time you are supposed to show up to
get parked. This is because the Fiesta actually has two sessions
over nine days, the first starts on Saturday and ends on Wednesday,
the second starts on Wednesday and ends on Sunday. We are in the
second session, so Wednesday is the “switch” day when the people
where were in the parking lot for the first session leave and those
for the second session, us, go in and get set up. The balloons do a
final morning fly on Wednesday, but there are no other activities on
that day.
On two of our previous times at the
rally Jackie and I were part of the team that put the rally on. I
helped with parking and Jackie helped with cooking for the social
events. When we signed up for the rally this year it was late in the
process and they didn't need any help, so we were going in again as
just spectators. However, as we were getting ready to leave to head
to Albuquerque we got a text from the guy who is heading up the rally
asking us if we can come in early to help with parking. Some friends
of ours, Pat and Jim Goetzinger were on the advance team and
apparently Pat had gone to the hospital early this morning with chest
pains. It didn't look too serious at this time, but it meant that
Jim needed to be replaced on the parking team. We sped up our
departure and started north about 7:45 and arrived at the Fiesta
grounds right at 9:30. We got right in and got a parking spot right
on the front row, primo parking! We got the basics set up, which
didn't take too long since this rally is all dry camping, no
utilities at all. I then went out and relieved Jim so he could go to
the hospital and I helped get the remaining 70 coaches parked.
Jackie did the set up inside the coach while I was working.
By about 2:30 we had all but a handful
of stragglers parked and my work was done. We relaxed in the coach
until 4:00 when we had our first social gathering with the group.
Everyone gathered outside and the rally master gave a talk detailing
what would be going on for the next four days, going over the various
safety rules and regulations and just bringing everyone up to speed.
Probably three quarters of the attendees are first timers. We then
had some presentations by two of the balloon teams that are here for
the Fiesta. They talked about ballooning and showed off their
equipment. We then had a catered BBQ meal. Jim brought Pat back
from the hospital and we had a chance to talk to her. It turned out
to not be a heart problem and she was feeling better. She is still
not sure what the pain was, but she was relieved that it wasn't a
heart attack. After the social functions we went back to the coach
and spent the rest of the night relaxing in the coach.
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After lunch, about 1:30, we left the
restaurant and drove to a nearby Costco. The last few evenings we
noticed that the screen on the TV in the front of the coach was
getting progressively darker and harder to see. I did a little
research and concluded that the backlights in the TV were going out.
These new LED TVs have strips of lights in the back that illuminate
the screen. For the most part, these new flat screens are not
economically repairable, so I made some calls and found that Costco
had a replacement, exactly the same size, in stock, and it was on
sale. So we went to Costco and for $159 had a new TV. We went back
home and it took me just over an hour to swap out the TVs and now we
have one that works. At 4:30 the group got together for happy hour
again. They had food out, but most people were still full from
lunch, so not too many people ate. We didn't. At 5:00 the sky
diving team made their jump and we watched them come down. We then
went back to the coach because it was still pretty chilly. The
special shapes did go onto the field and inflate tonight for the
glow, so we took some photos from the coach. We didn't feel like
going onto the field in the cold. At 7:30 the sky diving team did
another jump, in the dark, this time with fireworks packages which
they shot off as they came down. Something I have never seen before
and it was pretty neat. The fireworks show came again at 8:00 and it
was another great show. After that we watched a little TV, shut the
generator off at 10:00 and went to bed.
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Monday, October 14th, we
went out after lunch to try and get a couple of geocaches, but the
only two caches in town we haven't already found were inaccessible.
One had road construction right next to it, the other was way out in
the boonies on a trail that we didn't want to tackle. We then went
to the mall and shopped for a while. Got some great bargains on
clothes at Penny's and Beales. After the mall we did a Walmart run,
then went back to the coach and relaxed. I made stuffed bell peppers
for dinner, we watched some TV and went to bed. Tuesday was a travel
day. We were packed up and on the road about 10:00, heading 120
miles west to Winslow, Arizona. We arrived at the Homolavi State
Park about noon, got parked and set up for a one night stay. Since
we were only here one night we didn't even unhook the car. We just
chilled in the coach for the rest of the day and evening.
Wednesday, October 16th, was
another travel day. Since we were only going to Williams, Arizona,
about 100 miles west, and the park we were going to had a strict
1:00pm check in time, we took our time leaving. We left Homolavi
State park at about 10:45 and drove a couple of miles to the Flying J
truck stop in Winslow to get fuel. After fueling the coach we parked
and went inside to Denny's for breakfast. We were back out and on
the road at noon and arrived in Williams at the Grand Canyon Railroad
RV Park about 1:30. We got checked in, parked and set up, then
relaxed for the rest of the day. We did go out briefly to scout a
laundromat because our plan is to do our laundry tomorrow. We spent
the rest of the afternoon and evening in the coach.
Thursday, October 17th, we
left the coach after lunch and went to do our laundry. After a
couple hours we were finished, so we did a little geocaching in
Williams, getting four new finds. After our caching we went back to
the coach, put everything away, and stayed in for the rest of the day
and evening. Friday was yet another travel day. We were packed up
and on the road by about 10:00, continuing west 110 miles to Kingman,
Arizona. We arrived at the Sunrise RV park in Kingman about 12:30,
got checked in and parked, and had lunch. After lunch we went out
and did some exploring and geocaching. We haven't stayed in Kingman
very often so we haven't seen much of this city of nearly 30,000.
Kingman was founded in the late 1800's as a railroad town and was the
home for a major Army Air Corps training base during WWII. After the
war the base served as one of the largest reclamation centers for
surplus military aircraft.
Today the town's economy is mainly
tourism as it is the largest city between Flagstaff and Barstow on
Interstate 40 and also serves as a sort of gateway to the Las Vegas
area, which is only about 90 miles northwest. It's most famous
“favorite son” is actor Andy Devine, whose father opened one of
the largest hotels in town in the 1940's. It's most infamous
“celebrity” was Timothy McVie, the Oklahoma City Bomber, who
lived in Kingman for a couple of years just prior to his bombing of
the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The city was also the scene
of the 1973 explosion of a rail car propane tank which killed 11
firefighters, a rail worker and an Arizona State Highway Patrolman,
and injured dozens more. The car was parked on a siding near
downtown when static electricity ignited gas escaping from a small
hairline crack in the side of the tank. Firefighters responded and
were fighting the fire by trying to cool the tank, however the
expanding gas first caused a valve to fail, increasing the fire to
the point where the propane boiled and finally caused the tank to
explode. The explosion was felt and heard five miles away and
created a brief, 1000 foot fireball which enveloped the entire
rail-yard. This remained the worst Arizona public safety employee
tragedy until 2013 when 13 firefighters were lost in a forest fire
north of Phoenix.
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Tuesday, October 22nd,
another travel day, but our last with the coach for a couple of
months. We left the Boulder City Elks about 10:00 and headed on the
last 77 mile leg across Las Vegas, over the hill and into our “home
town” of Pahrump, Nevada. Yea! We left Pahrump almost exactly
four months ago in June to start our summer travels. We arrived at
the Wine Ridge RV Resort about noon, got checked in and parked. We
spent the rest of the afternoon getting set up for our two month
stay. We love to travel, but we love to just be in one place for a
while too, especially Pahrump.
This officially closes out our summer
travels for 2019 and is a great place to close this chapter and get
it published. Until next time, ponder the words of baseball great
Yogi Berra. “If you don’t know where you are going, you might
wind up someplace else.” See ya soon.
Just some of the great photos we took at the Fiesta.